The City of Lights
by TheNinePages
Summary: Kyo Sohma honestly wouldn't mind spending most of his lifetime in France as a detective, but, as time goes on, he realizes that he's one of the best detectives Paris has. And all these mysterious murders aren't going to solve themselves with everybody wary of a fatal and stealthy murderer lurking around the City of Lights.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

The city is absolutely stunning at night. He only moved here a couple of days ago, and walking around the area is one of his favorite hobbies.

A detective and twenty-three-years-old, Kyo Sohma doesn't mind if he could live here for the rest of his life. He's single, so he doesn't have to worry about long-distance relationships with his girlfriend (or boyfriend). The orangette's (adoptive) father lives halfway across the world in America, and he misses him terribly so.

Kyo will start work tomorrow; he's a bit worried about how his co-workers will turn out. It's exciting, but it'll take some time getting used to.

The weather is cloudy, but Kyo has always liked the rain. As a kid, he used to play in it all the time, worrying Kazuma to death, but he never got sick.

The orangette tugs the sleeves of his light, pure-white jacket, fiddling with them so that they fall over his palms. He catches a whiff of delicious pastries as he walks past a cute, little pâtisserie with soft, pastel colorings on the inside. Kyo makes a mental note that he needs to eat some French cuisine soon. For the past few days, he's been cooking for himself with the fresh groceries found at a nearby store.

Kyo jumps down from the narrow sidewalk to the cobblestone road let a pair of elderly ladies walk by. He also finds the people interesting; you know, their mannerisms, their culture, their fashions, etc. Everybody is very trendy, but they're very subtle (unlike people in his own home country), and he finds it sweet seeing little old ladies walking their dogs with that calming forest-green knee-coat, or those bright red heels. Just small touches.

A beautiful, young woman with long, blonde curls and large, sky-blue eyes walks by Kyo, who gives a small smile in polite greeting. She gives him a bright smile in return. People are friendly as well.

Boston is a lot more fast pace, Kyo notes. In Paris, it seems like time slows down.

He decides to head back to his small apartment and call it a night. The orangette had walked about twenty minutes away from home. He wonders if it'll rain; those clouds look like they would like to pelt rain down on everybody beneath them.

Kyo hopes it rains, fiddling with his great-grandfather's bracelet.

Rain has always been there for him, and that's why he loves it so much. When he's sad, angry, happy, anything and everything. The orangette has grown up with it. Even when Kazuma had reached out his hand, it was pouring mercilessly down on them.

He stops in front of his apartment complex, looking up at the sky, before quickly going up the steps into the quaint building.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

Twenty-two-year-old Yuki Sohma looks over the file in hands while sitting at his desk, a candy bar in his mouth, reading glasses on.

Sugar works better than caffeine. Remember that kids (please don't).

He may be looking at the file, but his mind is beyond the stars. Yuki recalls hearing about a new detective in the homicide section, transferring from the States. That's one thing they have in common, despite not even meeting yet. He or she is supposed to start their first day today, and everybody has been really chatty about it.

Yuki bites off a piece of chocolate and caramel, listening to a pair of young, female co-workers talking excitedly in French.

"_Pensez-vous que ce sera un garçon?_" a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and sparkling topaz-blue eyes asks, her speech quickened by the thrill of getting a new co-worker. Yuki figures there's a one-in-a-million chance that this is going to be a young man. It'll probably be just some middle-aged dude who looks like he has a pillow stuffed into his shirt.

"_Ils viennent d'Amérique comme détective Sohma,_" her friend, a girl with dirty-blonde hair pulled back in a high ponytail and big lilac-purple eyes, informs. Yuki takes another bite of sugary goodness that'll keep him awake throughout the day.

The silverette only knows a couple of basic phrases in _français_, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they're talking about him.

He decides to give up on deciphering the file in his hands, sits his glasses atop his hair, and leans back in his chair to look out the window. The sky is covered with gray ominous-looking clouds. Yuki likes cloudy days; it means that rain will (hopefully) come. He has always loved the rain, since he was a kid to present-day.

Suddenly, the room hushes. The silverette turns towards the entrance of the office. Benjamin LeClair, the head of the detective department and a petite old man who enjoys the "young" energy of most detectives, stands in the doorway.

"Yes! The day has come to announce the arrival of our newest detective," he says with a kind smile. "Everybody please welcome him." All the (single) young women squeal at the mention of "him". Yuki doesn't let go of his thought from before.

But he feels his breath catch in his throat, seeing that his hypothesis is proven wrong.

"Hello, my name is Kyo Sohma," this incredibly handsome, young man says softly. The silverette sees the faces of fair maidens turn all shades of pink and red for this American hottie (much to his amusement). He snickers under his breath at the women.

Kyo's chocolate eyes catch Yuki's own amethyst. The latter winks at him, and (he has to hold back his laughter) the orangette narrows his eyes at him.

"Oh...so he's a 'hottie' in many ways." Yuki turns back to the file on his desk, pulling his glasses back down.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

**Kyo's P.O.V.**

I scan the room full of different faces ranging from young to old, male to female.

Amethyst eyes catch my own. Their owner is a guy with short, tousled hair (glasses resting atop), his bangs swept messily to the side. He winks at me with a knowing smile. I narrow my eyes at him, already telling that he has some nerve in him.

Mr. LeClair turns to me. "Now, Mr. Sohma, I'll show you where your 'partner in crime' is." I nod.

"Right. Thank you." He smiles, then leads me through the office, and we happen to pass by that very bold guy. He seems pretty serious now that he's reading the file in front of himself.

Mr. LeClair and I stop at around the middle of the room of desks.

"Hello, my dear." A young woman with brown, shoulder-length hair-held back by a white ribbon-and big, turquoise eyes sits at her desk.

"O-oh! Hello, Mr. LeClair!" She quickly puts down the file in her hands and stands up. To my slight surprise, she's at least an inch taller than me (despite wearing flats), which is kind of depressing, I admit.

"This is going to be your new partner, Ms. Honda." The woman brightens up immediately, turning to me.

"It's very nice to meet you! My name is Tohru Honda." She holds out her hand towards me. I take it cautiously.

"Kyo Sohma...the pleasure is all mine," I say with a small smile. Tohru studies me, then looks surprised. But only for a split second. I pull my hand away.

"Ms. Honda, you're the one responsible for showing him the ropes, as he is your partner." She looks determined.

"Right!"

"Now, I'll leave it up to you, dear! I've got some work to do, so I'll see you two around." Mr. LeClair makes his leave with a bright smile. Tohru turns towards me, her excited aura making me feel slightly welcomed.

"Oh! I should introduce you to who will be working alongside us as well!"

"Lead the way," I say and she takes my hand. Leading me to that guy. I'm not surprised; irony plays a big part in my life.

To say he looks very surprised isn't an understatement.

"I'm Yuki Sohma." He holds out his hand, which I take. Tohru looks between us.

"Are you two related somehow? I-if you don't mind me asking, that is." Yuki shakes his head, and I shrug as we pull our hands apart.

"Sohma is a common surname in Japan," he says.

"Oh, okay."

"Kyo," Tohru brings my attention to herself, "Yuki is in the Violent Crime Department like us, but he's in the suicide section."

"Then why are we working with you?" I ask him. He smiles bitterly; not at all like that brave person I saw a couple minutes ago.

"We just got a case in, and we don't know whether it's a homicide or a suicide."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

**Kyo's P.O.V.**

"Lucky you! It's your first day, and we already have a case." I really don't appreciate Yuki's sarcasm as I give him a deep scowl, taking the file on the case we're currently working on.

"What, were you served dirt for breakfast?"

"U-uh," Tohru says, nervously looking between us. It's only been an hour, and it's so obvious that we don't have the best chemistry, it almost hurts.

"So we don't know if this is a homicide or a suicide, as we said before," he says, suddenly serious (again). What the hell is his problem? "The crime scene showed that the victim showed self harm; cuts on the wrists and fading scars. Plus, the victim has a history of mental problems." I look at the file.

Annette Dunois, twenty-years-old. She's a famous romance novelist, being one of the youngest writers in Paris. Apparently, Annette has won a bunch of awards for her stellar writing, but she has a severe case of Agoraphobia and bipolar affective disorder. During her periods of deep depression, she would cut herself. That would probably lead to the mind set that this was a suicide.

"Okay, so what makes it a homicide?" I ask. Yuki frowns in concentration.

"The object used for this 'suicide' was a shattered piece of mirror; the same mirror from which we found smaller pieces stuck in the gash on her head." He looks straight into my eyes. "The gash on her _detached_ head." I frown at him.

"Do you have a list of suspects?" Tohru shakes her head.

"We need to interview family members and close friends."

"Okay, then I can help with that," I say, putting the file back down on Yuki's desk. Tohru smiles. It comes off as almost...airheaded, and that worries me a little.

"Alrighty!" she exclaims, and Yuki sits back down in his chair and types something up in his computer.

"I suggest the first person you two should talk to is...Ms. Dunois's younger sister, Charlotte." Yuki grabs a piece of paper and writes down, what I assume, is her address, handing it to me afterwards. "Try to act sorry." I roll my eyes, then look at the address.

"I'll try." I turn towards Tohru. "C'mon. This is within walking distance, it won't take to long." I hesitate. "And try not to get lost." She nods, a determined expression on her features.

"Right!" I sigh and Yuki snickers.

"Right."

* * *

><p>The walk to Charlotte's apartment is comfortable and warm, despite the chilly, cloudy weather, with Tohru talking about everything and anything, asking a couple of questions like: "Where did you live before?" "Do you have family in Europe?". They're simple questions, yet for me, it's actually a bit difficult to answer. I still haven't gotten completely over being homesick, and even if it's just a tiny bit, it still feels sad.<p>

I told her I used to live in Boston (to which she replied that she's from Annapolis), and that I do actually have family in Europe. My younger cousin, Hiro, just recently moved to Munich, Germany. I remember when I first moved here to Paris, he had called me to ask if I got over okay and if I settled in. He promised that he'd visit me one of these days, but I wonder if I'll get so involved with work that I'll forget. Probably not. It's rare that Hiro makes promises.

"Oh, what's he like?" Tohru asks. I exhale, almost tiredly.

"Uh...he's just like a younger version of Yuki, except ten times more snarky," I reply. She smiles.

"I'm sure he's kind underneath all that." I let Tohru's words seep into my mind. Kind. _Hiro?_ Don't make me laugh. But I guess he can be nice. Once every blue moon.

We reach Charlotte's apartment. Her building is cream-colored with vines crawling up the sides, white-wired balconies protruding from the side. It's basically the epitome of a "French" building, whatever that is.

"I'm kind of nervous," Tohru admits. I look at her from the corner of my eye.

"Don't you question people all the time?" She nods, looking down slightly.

"It's just...seeing their devastated faces...it makes me feel badly that I was the one to tell them the news." I take her wrist and lead her up the steps that guide you to the entrance of the apartment complex.

"Think of it this way," I say as we stand on that small ledge right in front of the door. "You're also the one who can find the murderer and bring the victim to justice. It won't bring them back, but their death is acknowledged and mourned by their loved ones." Tohru blinks and I open the door, holding it for her. "Still nervous?"

"...No." She smiles. I feel relieved because I've never been the one to comfort people.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

_He and Tohru showed the police officers their badges and stepped through to the apartment that held the victim._

_Annette Dunois's body was covered in a sheet, bright, scarlet blood spattered _everywhere_. The only thing that disturbed Yuki was that her neck seemed to be...really...long…._

_Huh._

"_Detectives!" Yuki whipped around to face a young police officer, while Tohru gazed at Annette's covered corpse._

"_Hello, Officer," the silverette greeted politely. "Is it alright if we take a look around?"_

"_Of course," the police officer replies with a light, French accent. "I just came to inform you that the autopsists will be here in a couple of minutes to do the medical examination."_

"_Thank you." Yuki nodded and turned around, patting Tohru on the head, which proved to be quite difficult since she was equal in height with him. "Ready to investigate?"_

"_Yes!" _

_It didn't take a calculus class to figure out that Annette was a wealthy, young woman judging by how spacious her apartment was. Yuki could tell that the fancy living area used to be clean and tidy, but the place was the wreck now, to say the least (as he and Tohru jumped over tipped over chairs and end tables). Even some of the fallen items had small spatters of vibrant blood on them. Yuki took note of that._

_Then that mirror. _

Wow.

_He definitely took note of this. _

"_Please be careful," Tohru warned gently as the silverette started into step into a glass minefield. He bit the inside of his cheek, keeping himself from making a witty come back. _

_Yuki was glad that he wears combat boots; it won't protect his feet completely, but it's thicker than sneakers. The mirror was facedown on the ground, and how the hell was there shards of blood-stained, razor-sharp glass _over _a _twenty-foot _radius? The silverette managed to avoid impaling his foot and made it to the mirror, thanks to fifteen years of MMA._

_Carefully, he pulled the mirror upright (trying not to slice or skewer any appendages, because even your __dog knows that glass can cut through fairly thick gloves) and leaned it against the wall behind, making sure that it wouldn't slide down. Most of the glass on the mirror was almost gone, save for the jagged edges that still hung onto the robust, dark-wooden frame._

_Yuki observed the massive amount of dried blood crusted onto the wood behind all the glass, and how many blood trails were sliding down from the main source before it had even dried completely. Tohru circled the area around the broken glass, searching for anything out of place._

"_We might want the forensic scientists to look at this," the silverette remarked, turning towards the direction of the brunette. She looked around an area near the wall, where a hallway started. Yuki wondered if this was a huge apartment, or a small house on top of an apartment complex._

"_Okay," she replied full-heartedly, despite still investigating. Tohru leaned down to pick up something._

_A white pill bottle._

_She looked towards Yuki, who was now looking around the mirror, at all the pieces of glass on the ground._

"_Yuki!" He looked up at her quickly._

"_What's up?" Tohru held up the bottle between her pointer finger and thumb._

"_This might come in handy." A nearsighted Yuki, even with glasses, narrows his eyes slightly. _

"_Drugs?"_

"_It looks like prescribed medication," the brunette replied, using her thumb to roll the bottle around in her hand._

"_I'll go over there." He cautiously but skillfully made his way back over to Tohru, who watched him with worried eyes. The silverette bit harder (than the previous time) on the inside of his cheek, once again thanking his background of fighting._

"_Here you go," Tohru said, handing the item to Yuki._

_They're sleeping pills._

"_I'm not a doctor, but if someone ODs on this stuff, they could die." His sentence hung in the air between them ominously as he reached into the back pocket of his jeans, taking out a plastic bag. Tohru nods slowly._

"_...Right..."_

* * *

><p>Tohru rings the doorbell and steps back, so that she's standing next to Kyo. She glances at the slightly shorter male. The orangette plays with the sleeves of his jacket, knowing that he shouldn't ask too many questions since he wasn't at the crime scene.<p>

And no; he didn't just realize this.

The door opens, revealing a pretty, young woman with long, honey-blonde hair, tied into a braid, and amethyst eyes, much like Annette's (and Yuki's). She looks to be around eighteen or nineteen-years-old.

"Hello," Tohru says, and Kyo wonders if she was joking about being nervous before (he doubts it), "are you Ms. Charlotte Dunois?"

"Y-yes," Charlotte replies, opening the door more. Her face is worried. "Did you find my sister? Annette?"

"You have our condolences," Tohru says. Annette's sister wilts, but she doesn't cry. Kyo sees Tohru's mouth turn down slightly, but she quickly turns it into a reassuring smile.

"I see…"

"I'm very sorry, but we need to question you about information on Annette before her death."

"Right." Charlotte straightens up. "Please, come in."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

Tohru and Kyo are seated on a cream-colored sofa with steaming cups of _thé _sitting on a tray on the coffee table in front of them. Charlotte looks really depressed, but neither detective can blame to poor woman.

Tohru looks at the orangette next to her. He raises his eyebrows, glancing pointedly at the blonde sitting across from them. She nods, turning back to Charlotte, while Kyo takes out a small notebook from his jacket pocket.

"Charlotte, when did you last see Annette?" the brunette asks politely.

"I saw her about a week ago," Charlotte replies. "I had dinner at her flat." Kyo jots that down.

"Was she acting strangely?" Tohru furrows her brow slightly, feeling that this could be a lead.

"No. She was acting normally...but Annette did look awfully thin to me, and she barely ate any dinner." That causes Kyo to purse his lips as he writes, and the brunette next to him leans forward slightly.

"Is there a reason?" Charlotte frowns at the question.

"Her best friend." Kyo narrows his eyes at the mention of the dreaded "best friend".

"What's their name?" he asks.

"Claire Beaumont," the blonde replies, tugging at her thick braid in a frustrated fashion. "She's blunt when it comes to her friends. I really don't like the vibe I get from her."

"Do you know for sure that Ms. Beaumont is the reason?"

"Yes." Her voice is firm as she frowns again. "Annette told me during dinner; she was crying." Tohru smiles lightly.

"Thank you, Charlotte." The blonde gives a bright beam in return.

"Please find my sister's killer, Detective Honda." She then looks at Kyo with a nod. "You too, Detective Sohma."

"We'll do our best!" Tohru says, a determined look gracing her features.

"Of course. It's the least, yet the most we can do." Kyo smiles.

* * *

><p>"<em>...Right…" <em>

_Yuki felt slightly bad for making Tohru uncomfortable, but it was the nasty truth. He smiled apologetically, but she shook her head._

"_Why don't we look around some more?" she asked._

"_Okay." The silverette tugged at his gloves as they walked down the hallway. They reached Annette's room and took a look inside._

_Her bedroom was simple, considering the décor of the other rooms. A neatly-made bed sat in the middle of the room with a dark wooden dresser and vanity on either side. Her closet was to the right of the dresser and a nightstand was next to her bed. The sheets on her bed were a dark plum-purple._

_This place gives off this...mysterious vibe, Yuki thought as he looked at all of the furniture. He walked over to Annette's nightstand, something on it caught his eye._

_Her cellphone._

_He was surprised, seeing that it was not password-locked, and looked through her texts. It would hopefully show who Annette had contact with at the latest; before her death. And that last person she had texted was her younger sister, Charlotte. _

_Yuki turned around and called Tohru over to translate it. Thank god she took French all throughout high school and college, becoming fluent in the language._

_So, apparently, it wasn't a suspicious text, just Charlotte asking how Annette was doing. She said that she would visit the older girl for dinner on Wednesday. The text was sent last Monday. It was Tuesday, so Charlotte had visited Annette just a little under a week ago._

_What could've happened during the time between last Wednesday and today? Yuki and Tohru share a glance._

"_I think we'll need to question some people," he said, taking the phone that the brunette handed to him._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

**Kyo's P.O.V.**

So, apparently, this Claire Beaumont has something to do with Annette's getting thinner. It annoys me how insensitive people can be.

I sigh as Tohru and I walk to Claire's residence. Tohru had called Yuki to look up her address, so we could hunt her down. I have a feeling Claire has a lot of dirt, honestly. Although, I could be wrong.

"Kyo, do you think we'll find the murderer soon?" Tohru asks me. I answer truthfully.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're asking me now," I say, "and we don't even have suspects yet." She looks embarrassed.

"Oh, right. Sorry." I roll my eyes, but smile.

When we get to Claire's house, I pull back my sleeve to check my watch.

10:01.

Did I mention that her house is _huge_? Well, for French standards.

The door opens, and I realize that Tohru had already rung the doorbell.

Claire is a beautiful, young woman with long, black hair and sharp, stormy eyes.

"Hello, are you Ms. Claire Beaumont?" Tohru asks.

"_Je ne parle pas Anglais,_" she snaps. I step forward.

"I'm very sorry, but we need to talk about Ms. Annette Dunois." My voice comes out sharper than I mean it too. I admit, I don't have all the patience in the world, but enough. There are just those people.

Her wide, grey eyes suddenly look worried.

"Right, please, come in." I smile politely, following her in, holding the door for Tohru. Claire may be rude, and that could be her personality, but I don't see why Charlotte wouldn't like her.

We get situated in her enormous living room.

"I'm Detective Sohma and this is Detective Honda," I introduce us, "and we'd like to ask a few questions regarding Annette." What am I doing? But I'm _not_ letting myself get buried any further into the ground. I have to do something! We promised Charlotte.

"Go ahead," she says, sitting down in a seat of expensive-looking material.

"We just talked to Charlotte, Annette's younger sister," Tohru says, and I've never seen her look so uptight, "and she said you had contact with Annette. When?"

"Yes. We met at my house last Tuesday morning," she replies. "We had breakfast together." I take out my notebook and quickly write that down.

"Did you do mention anything about 'weight' to Annette on that day?"

"Yes," Claire admits. "I told her that she should eat more; she looks like a stick." I pause, leaning forward.

"Annette must've taken that the wrong way," I say. "Charlotte said that she looked malnourished when they saw each other last Wednesday." She looks sad, much to our surprise.

"I've been very blunt with her, but nothing gets through to Annette," she says. "I was worried about her health." Claire isn't pretending. I lean back from my forward position.

"Did Annette seem suicidal?" She frowns.

"No. Even if she did have many health problems, she persevered through it all." I nod.

"Thank you, Claire." Claire smiles, almost in a determined way.

"I'm not going to tell you to find the murderer, because I know you will and can."


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8**_

"Oh, hey, get anything juicy?" Yuki asks, leaning back in his chair. Kyo tosses his notebook at the silverette's stomach, where it bounces off and lands on his lap.

"Have at it, dude." The taller man mocks being hurt, causing the orangette to roll his eyes, then opens the notebook.

"Wow, this is, like, the neatest handwriting I've ever seen," he says, looking surprised. Kyo leans slightly against the other's desk, not knowing if it's supposed to be a compliment or insult. Or both.

"Thanks." Yuki quickly looks over the elder's notes.

"Okay, so it looks like Charlotte and Claire are just...witnesses." But he looks dubious about the women's "position".

Witnesses, or the ones that could've pushed Annette in the wrong direction? Kyo watches as Yuki studies his notes some more.

The silverette startles slightly, not expecting to look up into warm chocolate eyes.

"You need to tell me _everything_ you found at the crime scene," the orangette says, looking away.

"Right." Yuki laughs slightly, and pulls out the file on Annette's case.

"Okay," he starts. "Just saying, but all the evidence we collected...well, it can lead up to either a suicide or a homicide." Kyo nods in understanding. "What we think is a high possibility of suicide is a bottle of sleeping pills found, and the fact that the autopsists say that they found the pills were the last thing she ate." Yuki chews on his already (insanely) short nail, speaking around it. "The broken mirror and shattered glass doesn't add up. As well as Annette's decapitated head and the wound in her head, where little pieces of glass were found."

The evidence is great, but it's just leading them into the dark. That's something that Kyo would like to avoid, despite knowing that it's inevitable. This case is very..._peculiar_.

"...I don't think we'll find Annette's murderer in a while," the orangette says, looking at the file on Yuki's desk. "For now, we should wait." The silverette looks with the other man with curiosity.

"Have we reached a point?"

"Yeah; we've reached a dead end." Kyo places his hands on his hips. "Charlotte recommended Claire, but she didn't say anything about anyone else, so that's between them. You guys haven't found any other evidence to back up either side more than the other. You just know they don't add up."

"True," the silverette says, impressed by the other's deduction skills. There's nothing more they can do. Kyo is right. They've reached a dead end, stumbling through this case like they're blind.

"Have you found any fingerprints?" the orangette asks. Yuki shakes his head.

"I checked. We don't even know if there was a murderer involved with this. If so, they could've used gloves or wiped it clean."

"It's like playing tug-of-war," Kyo says. Yuki agrees silently.

"So...we just sit and wait?"

"Yeah." The orangette sighs. "Well, fine, I'll what I can do. Does she have parents?"

"They passed away three years ago." Both suddenly look at each other. Or maybe they _haven't _reached a dead end yet.

"Could that be…?" Kyo looks doubtful, but asks anyway. Yuki frowns.

"Would she really? I mean, why? Would she really disrespect her parents like that?" The orangette's expression suddenly turns dark.

"No. No one should." His voice is low and soft, causing the other man to startle. "Wouldn't she have killed herself earlier? Or is her sickness not 'severe' enough, so that she could drag it out three years before going insane and killing herself?" Yuki frowns.

"No, something else pushed her."

"So are we going with suicide?" Kyo is confused.

"No, but yes." Yuki looks like he just ate something extremely bitter, and the orangette has to smile slightly. "_Now _we've reached a dead end, because, the thing is, we already found what pushed her."


End file.
